The Baillie Bugle

In Christchurch now - which I prefer to Auckland although the weather is even less pleasant!

It was bucketing down yesterday and with a couple of hours to go before I would be hungry I decided to go to the cinema and watch Whale Rider. Very appropriate film for my second day in New Zealand, and I really enjoyed it. It made me think about the Maori people in a different light, and I learned a lot that I should probably know while I'm here in their country!

Afterwards I had a fantastic sushi meal in a Japanese restaurant just off Cathedral Square. The owner, an elderly Japanese lady with few words of English, watched me drawing in my sketchbook throughout dinner and then when I'd finished and paid up, took me on a tour of the building showing me all of her own work. Beautiful Japanese oil paintings hung all over the place (about a hundred all in I think) and she had painted most of them - the rest were by her husband.

Then I watched the Ireland rugby match in the hostel bar, with a girl from my dorm. I still don't know her name - I wonder if she told me...
No haircuts or tarot card readers today - although I did go to the Christchurch Arts Centre and speak with tapestry makers, painters and a sculptor who has inspired me to check out wood carving when I get back to London.

All in all, a great first day on the South Island.

Just wish the sun would shine.